Vehicles, such as aircraft, may under certain circumstances carry a payload that must be released from the vehicle while it is in motion. For example, air drops of supplies or equipment in remote areas where aircraft landing may not be feasible or advisable. Some of the payloads may require electronic or other communication between the vehicle and the payload, before release of the payload. Typically, such communications may be effected by an “umbilical” which may comprise one or more communications lines between the vehicle and the payload. The umbilical must necessarily be severed in some manner when the payload is released. Accordingly, it is ordinary practice to utilize a lanyard to secure the umbilical in place during payload transport, and a lanyard release connector that separates the payload from the lanyard upon payload release.
An example of lanyard cable release assembly is shown in FIG. 1A, where a lanyard cable assembly 10 includes a cable 12 by which it is suspended from a support ring 15 of a portion of a vehicle, such as an aircraft underbody. The lanyard release connector 20 is substantially cylindrical and includes an upper portion 22 and a mated lower portion 24 that is mated to a receptacle 26 flanged to payload 30, which is suspended from the vehicle by releasable supports that are not shown. The upper portion 22 receives an umbilical 40 that may include a plurality of communications lines (not shown) that each communicate with its own communications channel (not shown) within upper portion 22. Lower portion 24 is releasably mated to the receptacle 26. When mated, upper portion 22 and lower portion 22 has communications channels that register with those contained in receptacle 26, when the portions are mated. When the payload 30 is released from its supports, as shown in FIG. 1B, the mass of the payload and associated release forces cause a separation between the lower lanyard release connector portion 24 and receptacle 26, which were releasably mated together. The forces acting on the lanyard release connector 20 that cause uncoupling of its portion 24 from the receptacle 26 during payload 30 release, may result in damage to the parts of the lower part connector 24. In present connector designs, the lower half of the connector 24 and the upper half of the connector 22 are integral and are not individually replaceable. Damage to the connector requires that the entire connector 20 be replaced. This requires that the umbilical cable assembly be disassembled, which is difficult and time consuming. The forces acting on the lanyard release connector 20 that cause uncoupling of lower portion 24 from receptacle 26 during payload 30 release, may result in damage to the lanyard. The removal and replacement in itself imposes costs and may result in downtime that would not otherwise have been necessary.
To date, the approach to addressing this problem in aircraft has focused on making the connectors more rugged. These efforts have had only marginal success because of the limits imposed by the rigid lanyard specification standards that must be met, as well as the limited space available in most installations for the lanyard connector. An example of such a lanyard release connector specification is MIL-DTL-38999/31D of Apr. 19, 2002, which supersedes MIL-C-38999/31C of Jun. 11, 2001, both of which are incorporated herein by reference. These factors severely limit the options available to connector designers to make connectors more rugged to withstand the forces acting upon the lanyard on payload release.
Accordingly, there is a need for a repairable lanyard release connector that can be re-used multiple times. In addition, it is desirable that components of the repairable lanyard release connector subject to forces that may cause damage during payload release be replaceable with relative ease. In addition it is desirable that the repairable lanyard release connector meet applicable product standards, in the case of aircraft lanyard release connectors. Furthermore, it is desirable that the lanyard release connector reduce the frequency of required repair or replacement of lanyard cable systems. Other desirable features and characteristics of the lanyard release connectors will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background. An important feature of this embodiment is that the connector can be repaired without the need to de-pin the umbilical cable from the upper portion of the connector.